My Hoops- Sunstar Shopping Bag Feature

Sunstar Daily's Shopping Bag features Hoopaholic Cebu once again. Mayyang Derecho, Claire Rana, La Verne Salas, Bernadette Yu, and EJ Zabala are the lovely ladies in white who grace this two page feature.

Photographed by Christopher Dy. Article written by Kara Mae Noveda.

DIY Flow Pants

When it comes to hooping and yoga, I am a huge fan of leggings. They are comfy, stretchable, and they just simply oh-so flattering on most women. So I decided to spice up my leggings by being creative with the scissors.

The end product: Flow Pants. No sewing involved.

First you'll need a pair of leggings. You may use an old one or purchase a few pairs at your local store. They usually come quite cheap. For this project I decided to use a solid dark color for a more slimming effect.

Lay out your leggings flat on a surface. Draw a slanted line- forming a triangle. I marked 12 inches up and 3 inches wide for this pair. I would definitely recommend hiking it up higher..perhaps even up to 16 inches, but since it was my first attempt, I decided to play it safe.

Go ahead a cut 3/4 of an inch or 1 inch horizontal strips until you've reached the diagonal line you've just marked. I just eyeballed the distance. This project is pretty forgiving when it comes to mistakes.

Once you've reached the bottom end, cut the last strip completely.

Cut it the center, and save this strip for later.

Slip in into a piece of illustration board or anything that will allow the fabric to spread out.

Now for the fun part! Take the top strip and weave it into the second strip. Bottom goes under.

Here's a closer look. Repeat the process with the bottom strip.

Continue doing so until you reach the bottom. Hold on to the last hole. The chain may competely unravel if you release it. Now remember, that strip we saved earlier? We're going to slip that into the last two holes and tie a knot.

Seal it with a knot. Your chain is now safe from unravelling. Now repeat the same process for the other leg.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. If I had to do this again, I would definitely hike it up about four inches higher.

Experiment

Feel free to experiment with different lengths, patterns, and weaving styles. The possibilities are endless! Here are a few leggings I cut out for my awesome yogini friends.

BFF Ione Enriquez executes a full split in a pair of full length leggings.

Ione Enriquez rocking out a cute diamond pattern. Follow ione_yogini on instagram.

My lovely yoga teacher Claire Rana giving these leggings the justice it deserves.

Have fun cutting up your leggings, and do share your work with me. I'd love to see them!

Ignite- celebrating the year end with flow and fire.

E-invite here: https://www.facebook.com/events/855549287810224/

www.facebook.com/flowartscebu

www.facebook.com/hoopaholiccebu

www.hoopaholiccebu.com

As 2014 comes to an end, Flow Arts Cebu together with Hoopaholic Cebu team up to create "Ignite"- a celebration of the Flow/Fire Arts in Cebu City. Ignite seeks to bring together local spinners and have them share their skill through workshops and performances. We highly encourage those who are fascinated by movement, dance, and fire to join us.

Ignite will be held on a Sunday, December 21st at the Cebu Yacht Club.

Set at the gorgeous Cebu Yacht Club in Mactan Island. Just walking distance from Marina Mall. In the evening, a spectacle of dancers will illuminate this area with fiery props.

Schedule

• 3:00  Registration
• 3:30-4:15 Acro Yoga Workshop
• 4:15-5:00 Parkour and Capoeira Workshops
• 5:00-5:45 Hula-hoop and Poi Workshops
• 5:45-7:00 Dinner
• 7:00-9:00 Fire Dance Performances/Drum Circle/ Open Spin Jam/Raffles

Tickets
Ignite tickets are only Php 180 per head. Purchase your tickets through any of these venues:

• The Assembly, JY Square Mall
• Studio 108, 2nd floor, Paseo Arcenas, Banawa
• Or through our organizers Bernadette Yu 0917-2787743, Nino Baring 09322693711 or 09273212760, Reds Mahinay 09222112940, La Verne Salas 09173232756

Drum Circle
As the night heats up, our stage will be graced by the live beats of Abyan Ensemble. There will be an open spin jam allowing guests to participate with the program. Video below features Flow Arts Cebu spinning to the live beats of Kawangis Ng Tribu back in 2012 at the Ashram International Initiative. So gather up your friends and get ready to ignite the new year with flow and fire!

Hoopaholic Cebu goes to Boracay for Halloween.

Photos by Marc Robinsone Caballero

On Halloween of 2013, I flew to Boracay for a three day hooping workshop in three different venues: Tribal Cafe, the Kasbah Restos, and Levantin.

A visit to Kite Asia in D'mall to drop off some hoops for sale.

I've been to Boracay twice before, but I always forget how gorgeous this tiny island is. There's a reason why people flock to this Paradise island over and over.

If you love sunsets, Boracay is the place to be. Its skies project a a pink and purple hue unlike anywhere else. #nofilter

The Hula-hooping workshops

Recruiting new hoopers at Kasbah. Kasbah is a beachfront resto that serves the most delectable Moroccan dishes

We ended our three day workshop at Levantin. Love the vibe of this place.

Here's a little fire hooping performance I did with the Jungle boys at Kasbah. Enjoy the show. :)

Cebu's Parkmall Hooping Class featured in GMA News.

Parkmall officially offered "Hoola Dance Workout" in its weekly fitness program, as a way to encourage mall-goers to maintain a more active lifestyle. The class officially began last May 21 2014, and we welcomed many new hoopers into the class.  GMA News was even there to film the whole thing.

Parkmall's "Hoola Dance Workout" is scheduled every Wednesdays 6PM-7PM. Admission is free, so be sure to join in on the Hoola madness!

Raising Php 25,000 to rebuild a young hooper's home

Holiday Hoop Love for Jane Ann Arnado- read the article by Clair Ching of hooping.org
Help rebuild a young hooper's home.
Send your paypal donations to info@hoopaholiccebu.com

Jane Ann Arnado is a young hooper I met nearly three years ago while performing in Bogo City (A town north of Cebu). She was also performing with hoops, and I recall her wow an entire gymnasium of people. The crowd loved this little girl and her big talent. We instantly bonded through our love for hooping. She became a beloved member of the Cebu Flow Arts Community, performing and playing alongside local flow artists. Her parents fully supportive of her love for the art.

When Typhoon Haiyan struck the north of Cebu on November 8, Jane Ann and her family were very fortunate to be spared by its wrath.  Their house however- was badly damaged. Still no roof on their heads and no electricity up to this point. With the help of Clair Ching and Philo Hagen of hooping.org we've created a fund raiser to help rebuild their home through an article by Clair Ching. The goal- Php 25,000 (550 USD).

A home without a roof.

All smiles in Fort San Pedro. Here Jane Ann enjoys the luxury of lights before heading back to their power-less province for school.

International Love. It's been three days, and we've already been receiving donations in different currencies from people all over world. Complete with messages filled with love and warmth. Daily updates will be posted in facebook.com/hoopaholiccebu

Help rebuild a young hooper's home. Send your Paypal donations to info@hoopaholiccebu.com
Let's put a roof over a little hooper's head for the Holidays.

Innerflow- when actions speak louder than words

Few months ago, Jid Derecho- a friend and a fellow flow arts enthusiast came up with a brilliant idea for 28th Birthday Project: To Introduce Flow Arts to Hearing-impaired students of Mandaue City Central School. I was intrigued by the idea, and immediately agreed to help her materialize this project.

A giant tarpaulin greeted us as we entered the school: InnerFlow- our aim was to help hearing-impaired students find their inner flow by introducing them to Flow Arts through poi and hula-hooping.

When Jid inquired about purchasing hula-hoops from me, I offered to donate some hoops instead. With any production, it's inevitable that not every item can pass quality check. Having been in the hoop business for three years, I have accumulated around 50 plus slightly damaged collapsible hula-hoops. Though they didn't pass QC, they were nevertheless 100% hoopable and I didn't have the heart to throw them away knowing they could make some kids very happy.

Left: Marini Sunner Tabon-Esguerra and Jid Derecho were one of the first people to arrive in the scene. The 25 plus collapsible hula-hoops arranged according to size and weight.

Teacher Nino leads the poi class.

Me leading the hoop class.

Finally the students arrive at the basketball court. The translators/teachers used sign language and asked them to divide themselves into two separate groups for hooping and poi. They would later switch groups so they would be able to play with both props.

A few drills to warm up the class

One of the bigger challenges we had to face was communication. I often speak out in my hoop classes. I later learned that I didn't need my voice in order to teach, I just needed to show them through my movements and they were happy to follow.

With the help of the translators, we learned to sign a few words ourselves. Words like "try", "practice", and "very good" came in very handy when communicating with the students.

Some of the students were able to voice out some words. Larrie Jay for instance, loved to say "Wow!" and "Salamat".

Free Play

Towards the end of the afternoon, we let loose and allowed the students to play with their props. There was plenty of creativity to go around.

Since we showed them our talents, they returned the gesture by showing us theirs.

Performances

We capped the afternoon off with some performances from the Flow Arts Team. It was definitely different performing for the hearing-impaired. Most of the time they sat quietly with their faces in awe.

Luigi opens up the show with a mesmerizing contact juggling performance

Crush ng Bayan- Ramon performs for his alma-mater.

Ray An with his daring moves

Teacher Nino

And finally I end the show with a hoop routine.

Despite being hearing-impaired the students made a lot of noise. Cheering in clapping with enthusiasm throughout the entire show.

Delicious empanadas and juice for everyone thanks to Mayyang.

Distribution of Props

The students were very happy to learn that they could bring home their props. We had kept it a secret the whole afternoon, but finally told them they could bring one collapsible hoop and one pair poi each.

Students lined up in orderly fashion to pick out their hoop and poi.

A perfect combination . Sock poi used to bind the collapsible hoops together.

Group shot: Everybody brings out their new props.

Big big thanks to the Flow Arts Cebu Team who do this for no other reason other than sheer passion for the Flow Arts!